Foul

Although already under environmental appeal, Utah state officials issued a permit the last week in March to a Delaware-based company to a begin a large oil shale extraction project that eventually could cover up to 1,500 acres in the Uintah Basin. It could end up being one of the largest oil shale mining operations in the state.

More than two months after a judge ruled that its ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking) was illegal, the city of Morgantown, WV, has decided to table, not outright rescind, the measure as it looks for other ways to restrict the practice.

Some traders are crying foul with regards to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) electronic Globex trading system following last Thursday morning’s knee-jerk spike in front-month natural gas futures of nearly 75 cents. Some traders complained that their orders were not filled following the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) storage report release at 10:30 a.m. EDT, which sparked the run-up in prices. The trading exchange said Friday that no glitches were reported on the system.

Some traders are crying foul with regards to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) electronic Globex trading system following Thursday morning’s knee-jerk spike in front-month natural gas futures of nearly 75 cents. Some traders complained that their orders were not filled following the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) storage report release at 10:30 a.m. EDT, which sparked the run-up in prices. The trading exchange said Friday that no glitches were reported on the system.

Stock brokers, money managers and wealthy coupon-clippers cried foul, but cooler heads predicted natural gas industry activity and supplies will emerge as winners from a surprise move to tax income trusts by the Canadian government.

Locking horns yet again with Naperville, IL-based Nicor Gas, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) — a utility watchdog group — last week urged state regulators to scrap a controversial “alternative regulation” plan that has allowed the natural gas distributor to charge customers at least $27 million more than they would have paid under standard ratemaking rules.

Economics, politics and public policy pressures seem to be converging against the creation of regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and more cohesive, coherent power markets in the West, according to a consultant and a generators’ representative who spoke at GasMart/Power 2002 last Tuesday in Reno. Although on opposite sides in California’s ongoing electricity restructuring debate, they agreed that regulators and public policymakers need to change their approaches substantially in the future.

Upon urgings from its staff, the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC) voted unanimously early last week to establish a schedule of hearings regarding an earnings review for Atlanta Gas Light Co. (AGLC), which the Commission staff said is earning between 4% and 7% more than its authorized return on equity (ROE). In response to the commission’s action, AGLC said it will file a motion for reconsideration this week.

An AGL Resources subsidiary, Atlanta Gas Light Co., said it will file a motion for reconsideration next week in response to the Georgia Public Service Commission’s vote to launch a rate review earlier this week into AGLC’s earnings. After two separate but related studies, the GPSC staff alleges that AGLC’s earnings are 4-7% more than its authorized return on equity (ROE) (see Daily GPI, Aug. 23).